Telesat Holdings Inc. of Ottawa is now offering commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean from its Telstar 11N satellite.
The Telstar 11N, launched in February from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Space Centre, is located at 37.5 degrees West, which is over the Atlantic Ocean. It uses 39 Ku-band transponders. Target markets include aviation, commercial shipping and customers in Africa, North America and Europe.
Telesat says the 11N will be suitable for broadband and video services used by companies with very small aperture terminals (VSATs) and will cover the Atlantic from the Arctic Circle to the Equator.
Telesat, formerly owned by Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE), operates a total of 13 satellites and plans to launch the Nimiq 5 this year. The company is now jointly owned by Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space and Communications Inc.,
One Canadian customer of Telesat is the Kativik Regional Government (KRG), which plans to use the Anik F3 for its Indigenous Community Satellite Network (NICSN).
Telesat has been in the satellite business since it launched the Anik A1 in 1972.
Its biggest satellite, by weight, is the Anik F2 launched in 2004.
